A friend recently brought to my attention the fact that the University of Virginia* forced a lecturer to resign after he made some (frankly, boneheaded) comments about the Black Lives Matter movement. After comparing BLM to the Klan (well, the "clan," sic), Doug Muir was met with protests and the restaurant he runs with threats of boycotts. Reeling from several years of bad press—most of it bullshit brought about by the one-two punch of a fraudulent Rolling Stone article about sexual assault and an over-zealous police officer who has no affiliation with the University manhandling a black student in front of a bar—the University quickly washed their hands of Mr. Muir:
While free speech and open discussion are fundamental principles of our nation and the University, Mr. Muir's comment was entirely inappropriate. UVA Engineering does not condone actions that undermine our values, dedication to diversity and educational mission. Our faculty and staff are responsible for upholding our values and demonstrating them to students and the community. Mr. Muir has agreed to take leave and is preparing his own statement to the community.
This isn't really an "academic freedom" issue insofar as Muir wasn't fired—and let's be clear about what happened here: this was a firing in all but name—because of his academic work. But it is, as Hans Bader notes, probably a First Amendment issue, given that Mr. Jefferson's University, a public entity, has no right to remove people from their jobs for uttering bad opinions. Here's Bader:
Doug Muir’s criticism of BLM is speech protected by the First Amendment, under court rulings such as Dube v. State University of New York, 900 F.2d 587 (2d Cir. 1990), which held that a professor had a First Amendment right to repeatedly argue that Zionism is racism, even though it caused a growing furor. In Levin v. Harleston, 966 F.2d 85 (2d Cir. 1992), a federal appeals court ruled that the First Amendment protected a professor whose published "writings contained a number of denigrating comments concerning the intelligence and social characteristics of blacks."
It's moot, I guess, since the lecturer in question was a part-timer whose real business is running a restaurant and probably doesn't want the hassle of becoming a free speech martyr. But it's undoubtedly a chilling moment for any other professor at the University. Be careful what you put on your Facebook walls and in your Twitter feeds, teachers. You never know just what's going to get you fired.
*Full disclosure: My alma mater.